Synaesthesia Stuff

Yay! Sensory Issues

A lot of neurodiverse people struggle with sensory issues. SPD (sensory processing disorder) is the threatening medical term, which refers to hyper- and hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli.

As someone who is autistic, a synesthete and has misophonia, sensory issues are something I deal with a lot (thanks, brain). Sensory overloads are unpleasant, distressing and sometimes painful, and if you experience them you have my full sympathy. However, it is not the issues themselves I want to talk about but rather the 'why', which I have found is often neglected in studies of neurodiversity.

I'm not going to go into loads of detail regarding the science, but here's the basic assumption regarding synesthetes' brains. The various parts of the brain associated with the different senses, in a neurotypical brain, are separate (broadly speaking). In a synesthete's brain, the different sensory centres are 'cross-wired', meaning there are neural pathways in our brains which - technically - shouldn't be there, connecting our senses. This means that when one sense is triggered, it in turn triggers the sense(s) attached to it.

Now, in my very unqualified opinion, this could explain why a lot of synesthetes have SPD. Imagine a loud noise. To a non-synesthete, the only input here is auditory. Annoying, but manageable. However, in someone with chromesthesia, they will be experiencing two senses at the same time: auditory and visual. This can be applied to any type of synaesthesia. The more areas of your brain that are stimulated, the harder it's going to be to regulate and process stimuli, right? Oh well, it makes sense in my head.

There's just more stuff happening in a synesthete's brain, which would suggest a different threshold for manageable sensory input than a non-synesthete's brain.

Anyway, that's just my own little idea, not at all backed up by research. I needed to get it off my chest, so thanks if you bothered to read this. Think in rainbows!